US Navy veteran visiting Iranian girlfriend arrested as spy

[essentialsaltes]

Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday that it has detained a U.S. Navy veteran who was arrested last summer when he went to the country to visit his girlfriend.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi made Iran’s first acknowledgment that it is holding Michael R. White, 46, of San Diego, according to a report in the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

It is unclear why it has taken so long for word to get out about White’s circumstances since he was arrested in late July. His mother told the New York Times she learned he was alive and in prison just three weeks ago.

 

[Dave-W]

I heard it on the CBS News tonight.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday that it has detained a U.S. Navy veteran who was arrested last summer when he went to the country to visit his girlfriend.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi made Iran’s first acknowledgment that it is holding Michael R. White, 46, of San Diego, according to a report in the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.

It is unclear why it has taken so long for word to get out about White’s circumstances since he was arrested in late July. His mother told the New York Times she learned he was alive and in prison just three weeks ago.

He's in for a rough time.

 

[dgiharris]

Has Trump or the White House released any statements regarding this yet???

 

[Ana the Ist]

Has Trump or the White House released any statements regarding this yet???

Why would they??

 

[dgiharris]

Why would they??

Because a US citizen-- a veteran at that-- is being held on espionage charges and it appears that the incident is acquiring national/world attention...

 

[Ana the Ist]

Because a US citizen-- a veteran at that-- is being held on espionage charges and it appears that the incident is acquiring national/world attention...

Look...if Iran says he's a spy, it doesn't really matter what anyone else says, does it? Iran controls what happens in Iran.

We have a couple of options...we can go to war with Iran over 1 guy. We can send someone willing to talk to them (maybe Bill Clinton?) and hope he gets the guy back.

We can let it go.

We can use it as a reminder to every other American who apparently doesn't understand that these things still happen...don't visit nations that disappear people on a hunch without a trial. I know some people want to pretend that all cultures are equal....but they aren't.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Michael White, an American detained in Iran, was released on Thursday after more than a year in custody.

His mother, Joanne White, confirmed in a statement that he has been freed, saying "the nightmare is over."

White traveled to Iran in July 2018. In January 2019, the Iranian government confirmed that White had been arrested in the city of Mashhad "a while ago." The State Department said he had been detained since 2018 and was serving a 13-year sentence. He had been charged with insulting Iran's Supreme Leader and posting private information online.

Because the US does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, Switzerland represents US interests there.

Maybe we should let the Swiss do all our foreign policy.

[His mother] thanked the State Department, Swiss diplomats, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, family spokesperson Jonathan Franks, lawyer Mark Zaid and TV personality Montel Williams, who she said made it possible for Franks to spend so much time on her son's case.

The Swiss and Montel.

 

[Jimmy D]

Maybe Montel can have a word with them about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Boris has managed bugger all.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Get Montel on the phone for an intervention, Trump is trying to do diplomacy by Twitter.

So great to have Michael home. Just arrived. Very exciting. Thank you to Iran. Don’t wait until after U.S. Election to make the Big deal. I’m going to win. You’ll make a better deal now!